A driver who came close to being the first Northlander to have his car crushed under boy-racer legislation has instead been sentenced to 250 hours' community work.
Christopher Flood, 25, of Okaihau, was also disqualified from driving or owning a vehicle for eight months.
Flood appeared in the Kaikohe District Court on Tuesday charged with driving with sustained loss of traction, after a series of skids in his Nissan Skyline at the intersection of Kerikeri Inlet Rd and Blacks Rd on January 10. Flood had changed his earlier not-guilty plea to guilty.
Judge John MacDonald asked why a 25-year-old was doing burnouts on a busy street in the middle of the day.
"You might as well have done it in front of the Kerikeri Police Station," he said.